Malting sorghum and other GF grains

Hey everyone,

I have google'd this topic and come up with a few pretty good sources (sillyyaks of AU, and BYO), but I still would like to hear from someone directly who has malted sorghum or any other GF grains (buckwheat, millet, amaranth), and what results they had. If anyone, I mean ANYONE has malted sorghum or knows anything about it, I would LOVE to hear it. If you can't tell, I want to brew AG because I think the GF extract brews I have brewed are too bland for my taste. I want to make something with more character.

Thanks,

Ian

Nobody?!?!

I have planned on trying this soon. Have not gotten around to it yet.

Go for it! Assuming you're willing to put in a *lot* of extra work... I've malted millet, buckwheat and quinoa and while not all that difficult to do, it is pretty time consuming.

Your base malts will still be bland because you can't kiln them at high temperatures or you will denature the enzymes. You will have something more akin to an undermodified lager malt.

The key is in the roasting/ specialty grains which you can make from your base malt. You will have to experiment with roasting times/ temps. This is where you will get your flavour from but keep the enzyme-less roasted malts to around 15% or less of the grist or you may have conversion problems.

Your GF beers will be much more "beer-like" by going all-grain but they still won't be quite like a barley or wheat based beer. You will have to decide for yourself whether it's worth the effort (I think it is.) The method I use is similar to that described on the Silly Yaks site, so I'd recommend going that route.

Does that help at all?

My boss is now GF due to health developments and cant drink beer, so I thought I would try an amaranth beer as an experiment.

My roommate has some amaranth growing (grows like wildfire) and I thought about malting and smoking the malted grain with pecan or mesquite wood. I imagine I need about 15-20 lbs of seed to start with...

Not enough amaranth yet (had enough this summer, but didnt even think about malting it before we hacked it down)

My information is mostly derived from the Silly yak site as well.

Prost!
-m